40 Years and Counting…
We Are Remembering Our Past & Looking Towards Our Future
December 19th, 2014
Quick Hits

School reopens on Monday, January 5th
(Day 6)
Athletic Department
Bottle Drive – January 2nd
Please check out the noted website below
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https://www.facebook.com/groups/758481
477562928/
The Random Island Academy Senior
Boys Volleyball Team
win the 2014-2015 School Sport 2A
Provincials
final match the Crusaders came out hitting
and did a great job of shutting down a potent
offense; they overpowered the first place
team in Division B, Phoenix Academy
(Carmenville) 25 – 13, 25 – 21, to earn a
berth in the final. The gold medal game saw a
re-match against Cloud River but it was a
different Crusaders team this time; Our Boys
played fantastic all of Saturday but they
saved their best for the playoffs.
The Crusaders put up steady blocks and
consistently ran 5 hitters to overcome the
team from Roddickton. Our Boys won 25-18,
25-23 to capture the gold medals and the 2A
Provincial banner. This is only the second
School Sport Provincial MALE Volleyball
Championship for Random Island Academy
since the school open in 1973. Our boys
represented us very well indeed.
JINGLE BELL WALK TO BREAKFAST
Team members include: Coach – Jordan
Marsh, Tim Stone, Brandon Wiseman, Ethan
Blundell, Aidan Collins, Coach – Matthew
Cook, Justin Palmer, Gregory Hoskins, Lucas
Marsh, Curtis Vardy, and Kyle Blundell
Random Island Academy won the School
Sport 2A Volleyball Provincials which were
hosted by Smallwood Academy in Gambo
this past weekend. The Crusaders had a
rough match to start the tournament losing
to Cloud River Academy (Roddickton) 26-24,
25-11, but they re-grouped after that match
and never lost another set in the
tournament. They beat Cape John Collegiate
(La Scie) 25 – 9, 25 – 9 and then defeated the
host Smallwood Academy 25-22, 25-12 to
secure a spot in the semi finals. In the Semi
Random Island Academy had a Jingle
Bell Walk to Breakfast in aid of the Kids
Eat Smart Breakfast Program. Students
could purchase jingle bells for 50 cents and
wear them during the walk and the Kids Eat
Smart Foundation agreed to match any
donations made on this day. We raised
$285 along with 20 bottles/2 10 pack of
tetra of juice and the money and the value
of the juice will be matched by Kids Eat
Smart. Students had a few laps around our
school and then went into the gym for a
pancake breakfast that was prepared by
Curtis Blackmore & Vince Mulrooney
some fantastic parent volunteers. We can’t
say enough about our volunteers after a
great turkey dinner on Monday and now
this nice treat this morning; we can’t do it
without you!
Thank you to Nickie Sparks, a
representative from Kids Eat Smart, for
visiting our school this morning for our
walk. We hope you enjoyed your visit to
RIA!
RANDOM ISLAND CHRISTMAS PARADE
CHRISTMAS DINNER AT RIA
It was a very festive Saturday afternoon on
Random Island as the Annual Santa
Clause parade made its way from the
school and ended up at the Britannia
Community Center. It was great to see so
many floats and community members get
involved; it was also nice to see so many of
our students involved in the parade. Our
Student Council put in a float full of
mummers and had great participation and
spirit!
A BIG THANK YOU to the organizers for
bringing some Christmas spirit to our
school community! Your hard work was
greatly appreciated by our students and the
whole community!!!
Thanks to all the volunteers for preparing a
delicious turkey dinner for our students,
staff, and bus drivers today. The staff,
parents, and the Nutrition class prepared all
the vegetables and cooked the turkeys and
we had some great parents and volunteers
come in to cook and serve the meal. This
is one of the events that make this such a
great school community!!! We would also
like to thank Sandy (who dodged photos all
morning) for organizing this big
event….couldn’t have done it without you!
We also have to thank all of our students
who move our tables and chairs in and out
of the gymnasium for every event; you guys
move a lot of tables and chairs in the run of
a year and we would like to thank you for
it!!!
Curtis Blackmore & Vince Mulrooney
“We’re Dreaming of a
Green Christmas...”
Pretty much everybody enjoys having
a white Christmas, snow covered trees and
hilltops, but if we don’t go green this
Christmas we just might have to say goodbye
to our white ones. The effects of climate
change are becoming more and more
prominent each year with no signs of slowing
down. Each Christmas, torn and tattered
wrapping papers and plastics are thrown into
landfills all over the world. Christmas cards
are read, and wasted, never to be seen again.
We are the environmental science class of
Random Island Academy and with Christmas
typically being the most wasteful time of the
year, we’ve come up with some tips and
tricks to make this year’s Christmas, a greener
one!
John Bowering
Tag it!
Approximately 2.6 billion Christmas
cards are sold each year in America. Instead
of throwing out those cards that you receive,
you could reuse them by cutting them into
any size or shape for your Christmas gift tags.
By doing this you are saving trees, saving
money, making your Christmas tags more
unique, and producing less waste over the
Christmas holidays!
Amanda Antle and Heather Patey
Get a Live Tree!
Have you ever wondered whether to
get a live or an artificial tree for Christmas?
There has been some great debate on this
topic but research shows that a live tree is
best for the environment. Crowds of people
will argue this point because if everyone had
to cut a tree this would be bad for the
environment, which is true. But did you ever
think how negative an artificial tree was for
the environment? They are made out of
plastic, packaged in paper (which kills trees),
and they pollute the air since fossil fuels are
used in their manufacturing and transport.
Even though you can reuse an artificial
Christmas tree each year a real one is more
viable. When you are done with an artificial
tree the tree goes to the landfills where it will
sit for thousands of years leaching harmful
chemicals into our soil and water supply. If
you had a real tree you can burn it making the
tree a source of heat or compost it so it
doesn’t go to waste. If you choose to get a
real Christmas tree it is best to get it from a
local tree farm. These farms replant the trees
once they are cut and are a sustainable
practice. Many of these “plastic” artificial
trees are made in China and in a matter of
eight months in 2011 there was about 79.7
million dollars worth of trees shipped to the
United States alone. Even though a real
Christmas tree may be messy, I challenge you
to get a real tree for Christmas. You need to
spread the word, tell people your knowledge
of why a real tree is better and maybe you
will change some people’s mindsets.
Leslie Ann Vardy
Reusable and Upcycled Decorations
Canadians spend about $4 billion on
wrapping, decorations and gifts, most of
which is tossed away into the trash. Christmas
decorations are made with a wide range of
materials, such as glass, plastic, foil, tin, and
fabric. This reeks havoc on the environment
during manufacturing and shipping, and
again when it is sitting in landfills for
hundreds of years. Instead of wasting money
every single year, why not just go green!
Purchase handmade, durable, and reusable
decorations or instead of spending money on
decorations, create them yourself! You can
string popcorn and dried cranberries, or old
Christmas cards to use as garland. You can
use pine cones and twigs to create your own
ornaments. Images from old Christmas cards
or dried flowers make great Christmas
decorations. While decorating your tree
instead of putting fake ornaments why not go
all out and make edible decorations such as
gingerbread cookies and candy canes!
Robin Baker
Eat Local, Eat Organic
This Christmas instead of having a store
bought Christmas dinner that is loaded down
with pesticides and food additives, why not
try having locally grown or organic chickens,
turkeys, vegetables, fruits, and other foods.
Many farms in Newfoundland grow the
vegetables you normally eat at Christmas.
This cuts down on emissions from
transporting goods long distances. Many
home grown chickens and produce are also
organic. Wild game, such as duck or turr, is
also a good option. Locally grown or home
grown food is generally better for you for
many reasons. It is usually not genetically
modified, nor is it full of pesticides and
herbicides that are both dangerous to humans
and the environment. Pesticide use in the
North America has contributed to the large
number of dead zones along our coastlines.
Think about it...would you rather eat an apple
that is sprayed with chemicals or one that
isn’t? If you do not grow your own veggies,
maybe now’s the time to start making plans
for next year’s Christmas dinner!
Lucas Kelly
Curtis Blackmore & Vince Mulrooney
Paper or Plastic?
Around this time of year people
worldwide will be running in and out of stores
buying billions of dollars worth of gifts, but
have you ever thought of how many plastic
shopping bags this will use? Why not get
ecobags? Did you know that in Canada each
year, about 9 billion plastic bags end up in
landfills and that it takes a plastic bag 1000
years to break down. Many of these bags can
also harm animals or end up in our oceans
where they accumulate. Currently, there is
about 17 pieces of plastic for every square km
of ocean. We are creating a sort of plastic
soup. We depend on oceans for our survival
and so next time you get asked, paper or
plastic, please say...No thanks, I brought my
own!
Amanda Chipman
Manpower
Nearly every toy you get nowadays
requires batteries. It`s to the point that every
time a child opens a gift such as a stuffed bear
or doll, they immediately ask what it does.
But where do these batteries that are filled
with battery acid end up? The answer is
landfills for most where they can leach into
the soil and water supply. Why not try to
purchase toys that don`t require the use of
batteries. Some examples of naturally
powered toys are Windpower Renewable
Energy Science Kit, Whitewings Gliders,
Wooden Push Toys and Kites. And what
about old fashioned toys such as balls,
frisbees, skipping ropes, and dinkies? All
these are perfect gifts to give to kids.
Naturally powered toys help the environment
by not using battery acid and/ or electricity.
We could also use rechargeable batteries and
that wouldn’t be so much of a waste. You
can buy recharge kits that will save you
money in the long run. This is a couple ways
to save money, electricity, and the
environment this Christmas.
Jordan Patey
Recycled Christmas
Many items we buy and use at
Christmas time does not need to end up in the
landfill. When unwrapping gifts save paper
for reuse. Ribbons and bows are easy to save
and reuse. New electronic items are common
holiday gifts while older models are being
discarded to a landfill still in working order.
You can donate these to the less fortunate or
take them to a place that recycles them.
Marcus Whalen
LED lights
LED lights use less energy than conventional
lights. Because they’re so energy efficiency,
LED lights have very little effect on your
electricity bill. Over ten days of the holiday
season you will spend approximately $122.19
with conventional lights but with LED you
will spend approximately $17.99. From an
environmental point of view, this is good
news: When less energy is used, less carbon
dioxide is put into the air. With over 4,000
hours of life, LED bulbs are also longer
lasting than the average conventional light
bulb. Conventional lights burn up faster. You
will need to replace the light bulbs more often
over the holidays so even though it may seem
like you have saved money on conventional
lights because they are cheaper to buy, over
the long run you are actually turning around
your savings by purchasing replacements.
Johnathen Kelly
Real Dishes
Christmas is a time of year when
people like to get together over mealtime to
celebrate. Many people shiver at the thought
of cleaning all those dishes. More and more
people are opting for paper or styrofoam
dishes for larger meals. Each year Americans
dispose of 870 000 tons of plates and cups.
There are 25 billion styrofoam cups thrown
away each year. This is enough to circle the
globe 436 times!! Next time you plan a meal,
leave the disposable dishes on the shelf in the
store!
Marcus Bowering
Buy less
Christmas is getting more and more
expensive each year. This is not only hurting
the pocket book but also the environment.
Every time we purchase an item we are
harming the environment in some way since
emissions were created in the manufacturing
and shipping and most of what we buy will
inevitably end up in landfills. Here`s an
idea...we could buy less. We could cut down
on buying for so many people who already
seem to have everything anyway and opt for a
gift of spending time doing things together
such as having a meal or watching a movie.
Baked goods are also a nice gift option.
Another idea is for adult members of the
family, friend circle, or workplace to
participate in a secret Santa activity, whereby
each person draws one name. You are then
responsible for shopping for only one person.
This saves time and money, everyone still
gets a gift, and it cuts down on consumer
waste in landfills!
Katelyn Butt
Curtis Blackmore & Vince Mulrooney
E-Greetings
People spend thousands of dollars at
Christmas time on greeting cards.
Approximately 2.6 billion Christmas cards are
sold in America each year. These greeting
cards are harmful to our environment because
they destroy forests and are shipped great
distances. Rather than sending the cards to
our family and friends we can send emails or
other messages through social media wishing
them a Merry Christmas. If you really like
sending cards, you could use cards that are
made from recycled paper.
Devon Bowering
Let’s wrap it up!
There are 30 million trees cut down to
wrap our Christmas gifts every year. Sure it
looks pretty under the tree, but within an hour
everything is unwrapped and all that paper is
gone to waste along with 30 million trees.
Some alternatives to using Christmas
wrapping paper are using out-dated maps,
out-dated newspapers or flyers, material,
reusable bags, or packaging paper from
previous purchases. You can even
personalize it by having your kids decorate it!
Instead of using tape, for a much nicer finish
you could piece it together by using ribbon or
string. This also allows you to leave the
wrapping paper salvageable for reuse the
following Christmas, which will save money
and trees.
Amanda Antle and Heather Patey
Random Island Academy Tree Lighting
A Big thank you to everyone who showed up
for the inaugural tree lighting ceremony and
Christmas movie night for the Wish Tree. It
was fantastic to see such a great response
from our school community! With cups full
of hot chocolate we lit the community tree, a
great symbol of our Christmas spirit here at
RIA. We also saw a nice example of
Christmas spirit at our movie night as we had
free admission but collected $206 in
donations for our Wish Tree.
A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Smith
and her student Council for such a great
effort put into BOTH events this evening.
And, thank you to Mr. Cook and Mrs. Prince
on organizing the movie night.
On a different note, Thank you to Mrs Smith,
Mrs. Burke and the Student Council on
hosting such a beautiful Christmas Ball
Thursday night. This semi-formal event saw
a large number of students dress up and
dance the night away (and eat lots of food of
course). Thank you to our teacher
chaperones, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Burke, Mr.
Blackmore, Mr. Mulrooney; it wouldn’t have
happened without you!
Have a safe and environmentally
friendly Christmas from the
Environmental Science class of
Random Island Academy!
Curtis Blackmore & Vince Mulrooney